1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to heat exchangers and, more particularly, to particular arrangements for coupling between heat exchanger sections and between such sections and associated duct work.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various arrangements are known in the prior art for accommodating different degrees of thermal growth between adjacent members which are to be sealed or otherwise joined together. The Bevino U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,787 discloses an expansion joint for a shell and tube type heat exchanger for accommodating displacement of one tube sheet relative to the shell, which displacement results from the temperature differences between the fluid within the tubes and the fluid within the shell surrounding the tubes. The attemperator of the Bailey U.S. Pat. No. 2,416,674 incorporates U-shaped sealing rings between inner and outer tubes for permitting radial expansion or contraction with changes in temperature. The Ticknor U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,202 discloses a mounting arrangement including bellows and a plurality of hook elements for supporting a pair of coaxial tubes with respect to each other, which tubes are subjected to different gas temperatures in a flue or exhaust gas recuperator. The Chartet U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,210 discloses a U-shaped fold connected by lugs to the flanges of the heat exchanger during the assembly step in preparation for brazing the core. J. W. Brown, Jr. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,078,919 discloses a recuperator having T-shaped retainers which are movable in longitudinal slots to provide slidable support of disparate structural members operating at different temperatures. The Italian Pat. No. 311,249, Swedish Pat. No. 178,363 and British Pat. No. 1,454,260 show various configurations of seals and flexible mounting configurations for pressurized, thermal variant bodies. However, none of the disclosed arrangements incorporate a combined mounting and sealing structure for coupling a duct to a heat exchanger core plate of the type described herein, nor a bladder type seal for mounting between adjacent sections of a multi-unit heat exchanger core.